Memory

Last evening, as I waited for the F train on the way to see Yo La Tengo, I saw this guy doing amazing yo-yo tricks on the platform. When I was a kid, I recall Duncan yo-yos being the fad before skateboards. But at least last night, at Jay Street/Boro Hall, and then aboard the train, it was enjoying a renaissance.

His name is Justin Weber. In our two-stop chat,told me the modern yo-yo was invented in the Philippines, and brought to America in the 1920s by Pedro Flores. Shortly after, Donald Duncan bought the Flores Yo-Yo Company and trademarked the term - which in the Ilokano language, means “come back”.

Today’s Google “doodle” celebrates Edith Head. An eight-time Oscar winner, she was the model for “E” – the character that designed the super-hero costumes of the The Incredibles, (and vehemently anti-cape).

Below is a scene from the movie (Brad Bird, the director/writer of the movie, voiced the character).

And here is the real Edith Head, talking about the costumes she designed for Audrey Hepburn to wear in Roman Holiday. “I used to design for gods!”

I happened to visit their HQ several months ago, for a Splunk user-group meeting, and felt like I was in a dorm at a well-endowed school. Though they had a lot of tasty stuff in their fridge, I really had no idea what I might use Tumblr for.

With the purchase of the Washington Post by Jeff Bezos, I thought this would be a good time to post some clips of everyone’s ideal of an editor, Ben Bradleee; as played by everyone’s idea of Ben Bradlee, Jason Robards, in All The President’s Men.